How can I make REAL money with a "paid to write" site?

by doink

Posted: 9 years ago 10 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi warriors!
Long time visitor, war room member, but I don't post much. I come here looking for some guidance to make my sites more profitable in 2015. So let me explain what I have here...

I have created a few "get paid to" writing sites. Members from around the world sign up, write articles, and get paid a percentage of the ad revenue based on their views.

When it all first started, we used adsense and things were good. A year ago we lost adsense because google ads are forbidden from "get paid to" sites. After that happened, many sites similar to mine went down... sites like yahoo contributor network and helium are now long gone and there are not many of this type of site left. The ones that still exist actually run google ads and get away with it.

The problem I have right now is getting new members. They either do not know about us or just aren't interested in the idea behind the site.

So if anybody could share some insight, or anything that would help... I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

Well looks like I dont have a signature? Weird...
PostAnyArticle is my "main" site.

#make #money #paid to write #real #site

Lightlysalted 9 years ago

I actually didn't realise that Goigle had banned these sites, is that why Helium failed? I loved Helium. Have you thought about targeting new and emerging markets like India and China? There are some very gifted and literate English speaking content writers. They may find the lower returns more lucrative because $1 in the US is nothing but $1 in India is substantial.

Look through the content writing forums and visit Fivver and identify individuals from that part if the world and get them to spread the word. All the best, I hope it works out for you.
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Steve B 9 years ago

Do you understand why Google now refuses to let their ads be seen on "get paid to" sites? A great number of them (dare I say "most") are turning out to be scams or at least not what they're reported to be.

I would take a clue from Google and figure out another way to monetize your web sites. There are lots of other models to think about besides your former "Adsense model."

Consumers are fed up with the "do a tiny bit of work and get paid a full time income" promise of these suspect sites.

Steve
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doink 9 years ago

Thanks for your replies.
LightlySalted, I loved helium too. I was actually one of their "better" writers in the automotive channel, and was the repair channel manager. That was.. until they closed my account, kept my articles, and proceeded to sell them all without giving me any of the proceeds. It was about 2 months after I contacted a lawyer about the situation that they shut it down and changed names. Never heard from the lawyer again, either.. hmmm. Anyways, yes china and india are growing markets, but advertisers don't pay much for the traffic. I pay the writers anywhere from about $2-$5 per 1000 views. Indian and chinese traffic only pays about 2 cents a thousand. I have never even heard of content writer forums.. could you name a few? I do have a fiver account but never thought about messaging people because it just seems spammy to me. If done right, I guess it could produce some positive results, though.

Steve, yes the reason why adsense does not accept sites like that, is not a new one. Those kind of sites give incentive for people to cause "false impressions amd clicks" just so they can raise their earnings. This is completely unfair to the advertisers that they have to protect. However there is a site called bubblews that has been doing this for about 3 years.. they claim to have paid out over $100 million dollars too. But they still run google ads, for some reason. It seems google does not enforce their rules equally among all of their piblishers. I have a few advertisers that accept sites like mine and even labeled the ads with how the site earns from them. I have even started adding cpa offers to the site and giving users a bonus when they complete an advertiser offer... all by the book using cash incent offers.

Still seems like im missing something though. Maybe I need a marketing team? Or some better advertisers? I'm not completely ignorant, as I do have a degree in business administration and some experience with running websites. I don't ever try to promise users that they are gonna pay off their mortgage or even make a hundred dollars... because yes, that stuff screams spam and scam from the mountain tops lol.

Forgive any typos... im on a cellphone until my tax return comes in.
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- BartsTreasures 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by doink
  
  ...there is a site called bubblews that has been doing this for about 3 years.. they claim to have paid out over $100 million dollars too....
  
  Bubblews Update - They've turned into scammers.
  
  Bubblews has really gone south and turned into rip off artists. (The following isn't to bum you out but for warning purposes...)
  
  Bubblews USED to pay really well (and USED to be honest!). Now they have decided to scam people unfortunately.
  
  Here is the screen shot of my last 'redeemed' Bubblews payment...
  Screenshot_paymentredeemedNov122014_zps6868d0ce.pn g Photo by bartstreasures | Photobucket
  
  Prior to this I had earned several hundred dollars in less than 60 days from Bubblews writing very part time for them. They typically took 30 days to pay.
  
  On this last redemption, I had to wait TWO MONTHS to get paid and they seriously shorted the payment actually paying only $31.65
  I sent them an email asking why I was shorted on my earnings and here's the insane reply I received...
  
  =================
  On Jan 7, 2015 at 6:23 PM Val <tickets@bubblews.uservoice.com> wrote:
  
  Bubblews recently changed its compensation policy to a flexible model to match our advertising revenue. Instead of the previous fixed rate, Bubblews now pays a variable amount, depending on local advertising rates in your country. This ensures that the site remains sustainable, and may allow us to process redemptions more quickly.
  Unfortunately, due to extremely high levels of manipulation and fraudulent activity, Bubblews will not honor redemptions made before November 11, 2014.
  
  Furthermore, all redemption requests submitted after November 11, 2014 will be processed according to the new compensation model.
  
  We apologize to the Bubblews community for any inconvenience these changes may cause.
  =================
  
  In other words, the money was ALREADY EARNED, ALREADY REDEEMED and simply awaiting payment and Bubblews decided they could simpply NOT pay and that they could call their "theft" a "policy change".
  
  I wrote them a second time explaining that although it is their prerogative to change policy for future payments, changing payment policy for past payments (payments ALREADY EARNED) was reneging on their end of a business deal.
  
  I also pointed out that the ONLY WAY they were able to make this "after the fact policy change" is because they delayed paying the monies earned for so long.
  
  Here was their second "single sentence" reply...
  
  While I understand your frustration these are the new policies and we will be sticking to them, the adjusted amount is the finalized redemption amount.
  
  In other words Bubblews is saying, "Even though you did the work, and even though you did the work properly and honestly and to our specifications, we have decided to rip you off...We hope you are stupid enough to not realize that you are being stolen from because we use words like "policy change" and "new payment structure" in place of the words like "theft" and "we're ripping you off".
  
  Because we over estimated our advertising revenue, we're stealing YOUR money to make up for our loss...As to our website saying you earned more than what we paid you?....Our website LIES....Just like we do!...And your frustration at being robbed, stolen from, lied to and scammed is understandable but we are still going to rob you, steal, lie and scam you...because after all...that IS our new policy!"
  
  Now I have to ask a really dumb question (rhetorical) - Why would anyone write to "earn" from a site that refuses to show you to see their payment structure? And who's website reporting of earnings has nothing to do with what you actually get paid?
  
  Hope this helps.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Alexa Smith Banned 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by BartsTreasures
  
  Bubblews Update - They've turned into scammers.
  
  Undoubtedly. A long time ago, though, not just recently.
  
  Originally Posted by BartsTreasures
  
  Why would anyone write to "earn" from a site that refuses to show you to see their payment structure?
  
  I know you intended it rhetorically, but it's bizarre the things people (still) do, online. Somehow, they convince themselves that they're benefitting from doing these things. (I suspect that failing to look at it in terms of "opportunity cost" and appreciating that they could be doing something else, instead, is part of the story). Just look at the endless discussions there were, here, a year or two ago, about "Squidoo", and at all the people who swore that it "must be working" because they were undeniably earning something from it, after all. You can't ever seriously hope to educate many of those people, or to convince them (until Squidoo closes down, natch) that they're wasting their time there - and even then, quite a few tell themselves that "they were just unlucky" and "it was all Google's fault", as people sometimes like to, when they've screwed up with their decision-making. The best you can ever realistically aim to achieve is to put other people off by making them aware how ridiculous such things are, as a "business model".
  
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wrcato2 9 years ago

Once you get some traffic and PR to your site you can rent advertising space on your site. Put only your own articles on there and you can use adsense again.

Turn it into an article directory of sorts without paying people for their content and you can still use adsense. Their is a lot of other advertisers that are like adsense tha tyou might be able to use.
I have a few other idea's but they would be more hassle than they are probably worth.

Get your PR up there and you can put any kind of ads on your own site. My number one rule is have your own site. Google or anyone else can shut you down other wise.
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doink 9 years ago

Thanks wrcato2
Pagerank huh? The site does good in search. It outranks the other sites that show the same content, regardless of where it was published first. The site has a 'premium' listing in google, with all those extra links. However pagerank score is zero. So does it really help? And how can I get it higher?

Yeah I have my own site. The server is fast, reliable and paid up for a year.

PS- I'm actually checking out that fiver spam thing. Seems like it will work best if I just send the link. If fiver bans me for messaging people a link, the link will still be in their messages. Nice. "PostAnyArticle.com" is that link.. pretty much says it all. Yes, to the fiverr writers we go.
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doink 9 years ago

Lol. I have been warning people about bubblews since 2012. I have a screenshot that shows I owe them money.

My sites are transparent when it comes to how payments are calculated, and paid out. I would never claim to have paid out over 100 million dollars... as the bubblews ceo does in that post... without checking into the finances. Anybody who falls for that deserves to be ripped off.

Anyways, the pay rates on my sites do fluctuate sometimes down, and sometimes up. But from what I'm gathering here... it looks like paying people to write is no longer a business model worth pursuing.

Bubblews has been operating outside of the "law" since they first started... how on earth they got so big and popular... anf got away with it is beyond me. Maybe they have an adsense employee in their pocket, but that would be material the SEC would have a field day with.

Oh... my sites don't have anybody complaining about missing payments. But we don't pay some "too good to be true", rates.

So who has so much money that they didn't even notice overpaying $100,000,000? Lol... that site does owe me about $800 ever since 2012.

So is it just not worth it to have a site like this any longer? I didnt start it "for the money", but to help people earn a little from their hobby. But... it doesn't even make enough to cover hosting costs right now. Should I just log in to my WHM and suspend the account, and move on? Or is the business model salvageable?
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travlinguy 9 years ago

I would suggest you abandon a business model that no longer works.
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doink 9 years ago

Thanks for that, travlinguy. So you don't think it is salvageable at all?
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